Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron will hold a major press conference this afternoon.

The Prime Minister and the French President will address their countries at 3:30pm in the UK, as part of Mr Macron's landmark state visit.

The pair embraced and shook hands out side Downing Street this morning, before entering No10 for the Franco-British summit where they are expected to locked in talks over migration. Mr Starmer is hoping the French president will sign up to a "one in, one out" deal. It would mark the first returns deal with France for the first time since Brexit in a desperate bid to stop small boat crossings.

Speaking at the start of the summit this morning, Mr Starmer said the UK will address illegal migration with "new tactics" and a "new level of intent". The Prime Minister said: "In uncertain times, we achieve more by strengthening our relationship with our allies, so that is what today is all about working together on the priorities that we share as two nations." Attendees at the meeting in Downing Street included Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

The leaders have been negotiating a deal that would see one failed asylum seeker exchanged for someone with a legitimate claim to live in Britain. French newspaper Le Monde reported that some 50 migrants a week would initially be returned to France under the terms of the proposed deal, which it described as largely symbolic.

If such a deal were struck, it would only result in the return of a fraction of the 21,000 people who have made the channel crossing so far in 2025, a record for this point in a year. But it would also represent a concession by the French that such returns are possible, after years of MPs on the right of British politics insisting France is a "safe" country where migrants can be sent back to.

Following the summit, the two leaders will also host a call of Coalition of the Willing allies prepared to support a future peace deal in Ukraine. In a sign of close alignment on defence, Britain and France have announced they will buy new supplies of Storm Shadow missiles, which both have loaned to Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia.

On Tuesday in an historic speech to Parliament, the French President said Brexit was "deeply regrettable" but quitting the bloc doesn't mean Britain has left Europe. He warned the peaceful world order is being "attacked on a daily basis" and the UK and France were united in facing down these threats. He took a veiled swipe at Donald Trump by vowing Europe would never abandon Ukraine.

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The French President was invited to give a speech to MPs and peers in Parliament's Royal Gallery on the first day of his lavish state visit, hosted by King Charles. To laughter, he joked: "We love monarchy, especially when it's not at home."

He closed his speech to a standing ovation, saying: "Let's be sure we will meet again for years and decades because we are linked by our geography, by our past, but we are linked by our common future. And the only way to overcome the challenges we have, the challenges of our times, would be to go together, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder."

Mr Macron's state visit is the first by a French President in 17 years, when Nicolas Sarkozy was a guest of the late Queen Elizabeth. The French President and his wife Brigitte were greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales when they arrived at RAF Northolt on Tuesday morning before travelling to Windsor Castle to join the King and Queen for lunch.

He also visited Westminster Abbey, where he laid a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior, and then travelled the short distance to Parliament.